Combined golf club and ball retriever



Dec. 21, 1965 c, u c -uso 3,224,781

COMBINED GOLF CLUB AND BALL RETRIEVER Filed Dec. 20, 1962 W \\\\\\\V/INVENTOR. ,4 22 ALBERT c. HUTCHISON TTORNEYS United States Patent3,224,781 COMBINED GOLF CLUB AND BALL RETRIEVER Albert C. Hutchison,3227 Bradford Road, Cleveland Heights 18, Ohio Filed Dec. 20, 1962, Ser.No. 246,240 2 Claims. (Cl. 273162) This invention relates generally, asindicated, to a hand rnashie and more particularly to a novelty forgolfers having in addition to its function as a novelty certainutilitarian purposes.

In golfing, the hand mashie is facetiously termed that club which isemployed when a ball is picked up and thrown to obtain a better lie. Fewplayers will admit to having used a hand rnashie. Accordingly, a visiblehand rnashie in a golfers bag will leave no question as to his veracityand such is apt to be a major subject of conversation at the 19th hole.

A hand rnashie is often employed when the shot of a right-handed playerlands in an impossible lie for a shot using a right-handed club. Mostplayers do not carry an extra club of opposite hand and accordingly themore conventional hand rnashie is employed in such situations. The handrnashie is also sometimes employed when the ball obtains a difficult toreach location such as a pond, beyond a barrier such as a fence, orother unplayable hazard. Golf balls have been known to land up in trees,for example. The conventional hand rnashie is often too short toretrieve the ball and in such situations, the golfing novelty of thepresent invention may be employed.

It is a principal object of the present invention to provide a golfingnovelty which will provoke mirth among golfers.

Another object is the provision of such novelty which will have bothright and left hand ball striking surfaces.

Still another object is the provision of such golfing novelty which canbe utilized as a ball retriever.

Yet another object is the provision of such golfing novelty having anadjustably extensible handle.

Still another object is the provision of such golfing novelty having theabove utilitarian purposes which will be of light-weight inexpensiveconstruction.

Other objects and advantages of the present invention will becomeapparent as the following description proceeds.

To the accomplishment of the foregoing and related ends, the invention,then, comprises the features hereinafter fully described andparticularly pointed out in the claims, the following description andthe annexed drawing setting forth in detail a certain illustrativeembodiment of the invention, this being indicative, however, of but oneof the various ways in which the principle of the invention may beemployed.

In said annexed drawing:

FIG. 1 is a fragmentary top plan view of the hand rnashie in accordancewith the present invention with the handle broken away;

FIG. 2 is a plan view similar to FIG. 1 showing the back of the handrnashie;

FIG. 3 is a side elevation of the hand rnashie on a reduced scale withthe handle broken away and illustrating a right-handed club;

FIG. 4 is an enlarged fragmentary detail view of the telescoping handlefor the club; and

FIG. 5 is a vertical section of the back of the hand rnashie takensubstantially on the line 5-5 of FIG. 2.

Referring now to the drawing, and especially to FIG. 3, there isillustrated the right-hand novelty in accordance with the presentinvention which comprises a ball striking head I mounted on an elongatedhandle 2. Such handle 2 comprises two telescoping steel tubular members3 and 4 with the latter terminating in the hand grip portion 5 which maybe comprised of spirally wrapped strips of leather in the conventionalmanner. The tubular shank 3 telescopes within the slightly largertubular shank 4 and a handle 2 of adjustable length is thus obtained. Asseen in FIG. 4, the inner tubular member 3 may be provided with atransverse tubular container 6 housing a compression spring 7resiliently biasing outwardly a detent plunger 8 which may be providedwith a rectangular or square head 9 adapted to project through anopening 10 of similar configuration in the inner tubular member 3 and asimilar aligned opening 11 in the outer tubular member 4. When thedetent head 9 is thus projected through such openings by the pressure ofspring 7, the tubular handle sections 3 and 4 will be locked againstrelative longitudinal movement. The outer tubular member 4 may beprovided with a further opening 12 of similar configuration, or for thatmatter further such openings, whereby the position of the outer tubularmember on the inner tubular member may be adjusted and locked. In FIG.3, the handle is shown in its extended position and it will be realizedthat in order to retract the handle, the user need only depress thedetent head 9 until it clears the opening 11 and then slide the handlesection 4 longitudinally downwardly along the handle section 3 until thedetent head 9 becomes aligned with the opening 12. At such time, thedetent will then simply pop into the opening locking the handle sectionstogether in retracted position. The shaft or handle may be of standardlength, e.g. 37 /2 inches when retracted, but may thus extend to 64inches, for example.

The ball striking head 1 is attached to the end of the tubular shank 3by means of a wrist connection 15 which redirects the axis of the clubfrom substantially upwardly inclined to substantially horizontal. Thewrist 15 is then joined to the hand or head 1 by means of a circularcollar 16 and the hand may be held in place by a set screw 17 or otherlike fastener shown in FIGS. 1 and 2.

Whereas the hand illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2 is a left hand and thehand shown in FIG. 3 is a right hand, such hands are allochirallyidentical in form and they will be treated for the purposes of thisdiscussion as the same hand. Hand 1 may be provided with an annularportion adjacent the wrist telescoping within the collar 16 andaccordingly the hand may be rotated about its horizontal axis by asimple adjustment of the set screw 17. However, once properly inposition for the user, the hand will not normally be then adjusted atthe wrist.

As is apparent from the drawing, the ball striking head 1 is in the formof a human hand and is preferably of hollow plastic molded construction.The back of the hand 18 is generally planar and will normally restagainst the ground when the novelty is employed as a golf club. Thethumb 19 is elevated from the plane of the back of the hand and extendsslightly over the palm 20. This elevation of the thumb 19 exposes thebase of the index finger 21 for use as a ball striking surface asindicated by the ball striking surface insert 22 which extends along thefirst knuckle 23 of the index finger. The opposite side of the back ofthe hand or the heel extending up to the little finger 24 is alsoprovided with a ball striking insert 25. The ball striking surface 25 isconsiderably longer and heavier than the ball striking surface 22,extending from the first joint of the little finger almost to the wrist.It is this striking surface along the heel of the hand which willnormally be employed when the novelty is used as a golf club.

The middle and fourth fingers 27 and 28 are curved as are the thumb,index and little fingers 19, 21 and 24, respectively. These curvedfingers cooperate to produce a ball receiving pocket shown generally at30 and with 3 the handle 2 extended, it will readily be seen that thenovelty is capable of functioning as a ball retriever.

The hand 1 of the novelty may be molded of a suitable plastic materialsuch as fiber glass reinforced polyester resins. While polyester andalkyd molding materials and compounds have been found quite suitable, itwill, of course, be understood that other thermosetting or thermoplasticresins may be employed. For example, epoxy molding compounds, siliconemolding compounds and urea formaldehyde molding compounds may also beemployed. In the thermoplastics, high density polyethylene may beemployed as well as certain types of nylon molding compounds.Polystyrene compounds and also acetal polymer and copolymer may beemployed. Ball striking surfaces 22 and 25 may be formed integrally withthe rest of the hand or may comprise inserts in the mold of suchmaterial as the more rigid polyurethanes and it will, of course, beunderstood that wood or metal inserts may also be provided as the ballstriking inserts. The hand may be produced by conventional injection orextrusion molding procedures. Since it is desirable to have the club aslight-weight as possible, certain blow molding techniques may also beemployed which produces a hollow hand having a central hollow or opening32 therein as seen in FIG. 5. Also as seen in FIG. 5, the inserts 22 and25 may be provided with dovetail grooves extending longitudinally of thehand shown at 33 and 34 respectively more securely to hold such insertsto the molded plastic hand. When the hand article is molded, the plasticmaterial of the hand may be such as to create a bond to the plasticmaterial of the inserts further to increase the integrity and rigidityof the resultant structure. The hand, of course, may also be made ofmetal, hard rubber or wood and such hand will be desirably flesh coloredand as close in appearance to the human hand as possible.

It can now be seen that there is provided a novelty certain to createcomment when seen projecting from a golfing bag. It can be carried inthe bag with the fingers overlapping the top edge. Such novelty alsofunctions as a golf club having both right and left hand ball strikingsurfaces and when the handle 2 is extended, the curled fingers of thehand provide a pocket 30 to receive or retrieve a ball from inaccessiblepositions.

Other modes of applying the principle of the invention may be employed,change being made as regards the details described, provided thefeatures stated in any of the following claims or the equivalent of suchbe employed.

I, therefore, particularly point out and distinctly claim as myinvention:

1. A golf novelty comprising a golf club head in the form of asubstantial replica of a human hand having a substantially planar backadapted to rest against the ground when used as a golf club andincluding a thumb and four fingers bent upwardly to form a ballreceiving pocket, an elongated handle connected to said hand andextending upwardly at a substantial angle to the back thereof, and aball striking surface on one edge of said hand, said novelty being thususeable as a golf club and as a ball retriever.

2. A golf novelty comprising a substantial replica of a human handincluding a substantially planar back adapted to rest against andparallel to the ground when such novelty is used as a golf club andincluding a thumb and four fingers bent upwardly to form a ballreceiving pocket on the top of said hand, an elongated handle connectedto said hand and extending upwardly at a substantial angle to the backthereof, and ball striking surfaces on opposite edges of the handwhereby the novelty may be employed as a right or left handed golf club,said hand being molded plastic, and said ball striking surfacescomprising molded plastic inserts adjacent the index finger and adjacentthe little finger of such hand.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 422,373 3/1890Caldwell 294-19 X 1,334,189 3/1920 Swanson 273168 1,523,270 1/1925Middleton 294-19 1,993,911 3/1935 Abrams 294-19 X 2,213,190 9/1940Haverbach 273167 X 2,686,056 8/1954 Oquist. 2,738,214 3/1956 Zimmers29419 3,071,893 1/1963 Schwartz 46-163 DELBERT B. LOWE, PrimaryExaminer.

1. A GOLF NOVELTY COMPRISING A GOLD CLUB HEAD IN THE FORM OF ASUBSTANTIAL REPLICA OF A HUMAN HAND HAVING A SUBSTANTIALLY PLANAR BACKADAPTED TO REST AGAINST THE GROUND WHEN USED AS A GOLF CLUB ANDINCLUDING A THUMB AND FOUR FINGERS BENT UPWARDLY TO FORM A BALLRECEIVING POCKET, AN ELONGATED HANDLE CONNECTED TO SAID HAND ANDEXTENDING UPWARDLY AT A SUBSTANTIAL ANGLE TO THE BACK THEREOF, AND ABALL STRIKING SURFACE ON ONE EDGE OF SAID HAND, SAID NOVELTY BEING THUSUSEABLE AS A GOLF CLUB AND AS A BALL RETRIEVER.